1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine that provides a game via a gaming medium (gaming value) such as coins or the like.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, amusement facilities having slot machines or the like (see Patent documents 1 through 44, for example) provide amusement services in which players play games via various kinds of gaming media such as coins, cash, or the like, which are inserted into the slot machines. With such amusement services, each slot machine provides a payout according to the award (game results) won by the player on his/her game.
Some casinos having multiple slot machines provide a known amusement service, that is, a so-called jackpot award, as follows. That is to say, a portion of the credits spent at these slot machines are reserved. When the reserved credits reach a predetermined value, some slot machines provide a great amount of payout, much greater than normal awards. In the normal state, each slot machine provides a normal award at a predetermined probability. Accordingly, each player plays a game to win the normal game. Furthermore, a jackpot award is provided at a predetermined time according to another award determination that differs from that of the normal award.    Patent document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,459    Patent document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,697    Patent document 3: U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0069073    Patent document 4: European Patent Application Publication No. 1192975    Patent document 5: U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,483    Patent document 6: U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,730    Patent document 7: U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,088    Patent document 8: U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,981    Patent document 9: U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,896    Patent document 10: U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,016    Patent document 11: U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,820    Patent document 12: U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,482    Patent document 13: U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,731    Patent document 14: U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,957    Patent document 15: U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,048    Patent document 16: U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,402    Patent document 17: U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,013    Patent document 18: U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,709    Patent document 19: European Patent Application Publication No. 0631798    Patent document 20: German Patent Application Publication No. 4137010    Patent document 21: British Patent Application Publication No. 2326830    Patent document 22: German Patent Application Publication No. 3712841    Patent document 23: U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,638    Patent document 24: U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,980    Patent document 25: U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,909    Patent document 26: U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,303    Patent document 27: U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,409    Patent document 28: U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,533    Patent document 29: U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,817    Patent document 30: U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,704    Patent document 31: U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,707    Patent document 32: U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,728    Patent document 33: European Patent Application Publication No. 1302914    Patent document 34: U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,459    Patent document 35: U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,700    Patent document 36: PCT International Publication No. WO 2003/083795    Patent document 37: German Patent Application Publication No. 3242890    Patent document 38: European Patent Application Publication No. 0840264    Patent document 39: German Patent Application Publication No. 10049444    Patent document 40: PCT International Publication No. WO 2004/095383    Patent document 41: European Patent Application Publication No. 1544811    Patent document 42: U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,963    Patent document 43: European Patent Application Publication No. 1477947    Patent document 44: European Patent Application Publication No. 1351180
However, conventional slot machines provide a jackpot award in which only the player who has been playing a game at the slot machine at which the jackpot award has been won can receive the benefit of the jackpot award. Such a jackpot award provides no benefit to other players having spent a great amount of coins. In some cases, a player receives the jackpot award immediately after he or she has started to play the game. In some cases, such a situation causes the other players to feel distrust or displeasure with respect to the amusement service, leading to a loss of interest in the amusement service.
In addition, conventional slot machines are known that provide a cashback service. With the cashback service, when the amount of credits thus spent by the player reaches a predetermined amount, the player can receive the cashback service (see Patent document 15, for example). That is, when the amount of credits thus spent by the player reaches a so-called upper limit, a predetermined amount of credits are paid out. However, with such slot machines, when the player has spent a great amount of credits, the player receives a profit according to the cashback service, even if the player has not won the game. In some cases, such a cashback service incurs a sense of unfairness among the players who have won profits according to the awards won in the games, leading to loss of interest in the amusement service.
The present invention has been made in view of the aforementioned problem. Accordingly, it is an object thereof to provide a slot machine that provides an amusement service without incurring a sense of unfairness with regard to players who can win in a game, thereby preventing a situation in which players who have spent a great amount of credits, such as coins or the like, feel distrust or displeasure with respect to the amusement service, or a situation in which such players lose interest in the amusement service.